International Criminal Court urges 'zero tolerance' on crimes against Ukrainian children

As Russian military aggression against Ukraine continues to intensify, with troops bombing cities and killing citizens including children, the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s chief prosecutor has urged for "zero tolerance" in the war-torn nation for sexual and gender-based crimes, as well as offences against youngsters. According to Sky News, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said, “We must insist that there is zero-tolerance for any crimes of sexual, gender-based violence or crimes against children and that is going to be increasingly important as urban warfare intensifies." 

In addition to this, while talking about ‘zero-tolerance’, Khan added, “No person with a gun, or a missile, or a plane, or a mortar has a licence to target civilians. Civilian objects and civilians must be protected. Prisoners of war must be treated humanely," Sky News reported.   

These remarks came after Khan visited Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba and prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova in a rare trip into a combat zone, before travelling to Poland. Referring to the trip to Ukraine, ICC Prosecutor said in a statement, “This has allowed me to personally assess the situation on the ground, meet with affected communities and to further accelerate our work by engaging with national counterparts.” 

ICC opened a formal investigation on March 2 into alleged war crimes

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the International Criminal Court (ICC) had opened a formal investigation on March 2, into alleged war crimes and wrongdoings against humanity. Khan stated that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will look at all sides of the Russia-Ukraine war. Karim Khan had announced in a statement that his appeal had been granted by the ICC presidency, and that process of gathering evidence had begun. Khan stated that the ICC will focus on the organisation's main goal of "ensuring accountability for war crimes under the court's jurisdiction," as per media reports.  

Furthermore, the investigation was launched after the ICC acquired a referral from at least 39 nations, Khan noted. Britain as well as its dozens of allies urged for the referral, requesting a swift probe into Russian President Vladimir Putin's arbitrary bombardment of Ukrainian regions, which he said was limited to military locations. Despite this, Ukraine has blamed Moscow for targeting civilian infrastructure including homes, schools, hospitals, ambulances, and other facilities. 

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday stated that nearly 103 children have been killed in the Russia-Ukraine war. Further, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) official James Elder said, "Every day, over the past 20 days, more than 70,000 children have become refugees in Ukraine," UN News reported. He went on to say that this makes approximately 55 youngsters flee the nation every minute.

Elder has also highlighted the fact that young people are victims of human traffickers once they arrive in unfamiliar new destinations, noting that nine out of ten individuals fleeing Ukraine's chronic violence are women and children. 

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